Need A Graphic Designer To Make Ads Or Facebook Canvas?

Aamina Suleman Feb 29, 2016

With the introduction of “Do It Yourself” design tools such as Adobe Post and Canva, graphic designers already felt raged thinking over how can these petty amateur programs replace them. But their feelings don’t matter it seems, because new tools are still entering the market. The point isn’t to replace designers, the bottom line is to ease visual marketing for a noon-designer.

The latest release of Facebook Canvas allows its users to create advertisements quickly and creatively.

Do you remember the animated movie, Ratatouille? Anton Ego said, “Anyone can cook” and the same phrase can turn into: anyone can design. All you need is a bit of aesthetic sense and some knowledge of design principles. Apart from that, you are good to go.

What is Canvas?

According to Facebook for Business state that with Canvas “advertisers can use a mix of video, still images, text and call-to-action buttons to build beautiful and effective brand and product experiences on mobile.”

It looks like social media platforms have realized that visual storytelling is the future of marketing, and this is why Twitter also recently released their GIF button. As per Napier Lopez, Canvas is an immersive mobile design tool that allows users to create “complete mini websites designed around specific products. This includes slideshows, descriptions, videos and a scrollable, interactive interface.”

Why it launched?

This app had been talked about by Facebook in September 2015, and launched on 25 February 2016. The app can only be used on Android and iOS with an access via Power Editor. Definitely it isn’t a tool to make brand identities, but it’s an avenue that allows marketers to promote company products and brand stories in an engaging way.

In the 4th quarter of 2015, revenue from advertising stood at $5.64 billion as per CNBC reports. Thus, advertising is food for Facebook and mobile ads rose the company’s revenue by 57%. Mark Zuckerberg commented that “2015 was a great year for Facebook. Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving.” To further flourish the business, the social media website is released Canvas to up its revenues even more.

Knowing this it is evident that the company wants to invest in and gain more from mobile ads, and so it launched Canvas. However, the tool also gives marketers the opportunity to create on-the-go brand stories via visual marketing techniques.

Image Source: AdExchanger

Implications

Popular brands such as Wendy’s, BMW, Target, and Macy’s etc. have used Canvas to advertise – there’s absolutely no harm in trying it out. The effects of Canvas on the world is yet to be analyzed. It will take the tool some months to fully submerge itself in the design and marketing industry.
However there are some things we can predict will happen:

Conclusion

I feel that graphic designers cannot be eradicated by such DIY tools because these tools have limited features plus they don’t allow users to create a whole brand identity. They are good for quick and effective online marketing.

One cannot make high-quality prints from these tools; they are only good for on-screen advertising that too for the web only. In this case, I think there’s no need for graphic designers to worry since they will always be needed.